Sun Tel: Secret council tax database penalises homes with a view
- From: Papadillos <papadillos@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 07:54:46 GMT
Secret council tax database penalises homes with a view
Patrick Hennessy and Ben Leapman
Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 2:05am GMT 23/03/2008
Millions of homes face higher council tax bills after being logged as having
off-street parking or a pleasant view, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
Ministers have admitted that Government inspectors are building a secret
database that will eventually cover all 23 million homes in England.
The revelations follow a week when council tax bills for 2008-09 have been
landing on doormats all over the country. This week, the Government will
confirm that some will have rises this year of up to 11 per cent, more than
four times the rate of inflation.
A Victorian terrace: Secret council tax database penalises homes with a view
Eight million homes with off-street parking places have been identified. The
database will eventually cover all 23 million homes in England
Families living in homes seen as having desirable features face significant
increases after ministers complete their revaluation exercise, which they
claim has been postponed indefinitely.
However, ministers have had to admit that eight million homes have been
identified as having one or more off-street parking places with details of
the exact number of spaces - from one to nine - kept on file. On top of
this, 80,000 homes have been officially recorded as having the "value
significant" feature of a scenic view.
Again, precise details of whether the view is of the sea, hills, mountains,
lakes, fields or golf courses have been recorded. Different codes are
provided for a "partial view" and a "full view".
Last night, Eric Pickles, the Conservative local government spokesman, said:
"This is new evidence of the Government's great council tax cover-up.
Ministers' claims that the revaluation in England was postponed have been
completely shredded.
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"Every home is being sized up, and every home improvement or sign of a nice
neighbourhood is slowly being photographed, catalogued and taxed by Gordon
Brown's inspectors.
"Families face soaring bills for the crime of living in a nice
neighbourhood. Only Labour would think of taxing people for looking out of
their windows."
Details about the logging of homes with a view and off-street parking came
from answers to Tory parliamentary questions given by Jane Kennedy, John
Healey and Phil Woolas, all ministers either at the Department for
Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the Treasury or the Department for
the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Last month, The Sunday Telegraph revealed how ministers had tried to cover
up official documents showing that tens of thousands of homes were placed
the wrong tax bands, with many again facing the prospect of higher bills
after revaluation.
Council tax has been a source of controversy since Labour came to power,
with the typical household in a Band D home paying £1,078 in 2007 compared
with £564 in 1997.
Research by this newspaper established that, this year, some homes will see
their bill rise by up to 11 per cent - despite an announcement by ministers
that local authorities would face a 5 per cent "cap" on their demands.
However, the cap did not affect police authorities, many of which have
imposed bigger rises for their section of the bills to avoid having to lose
police jobs.
In parts of Lincolnshire, bills will rise by more than 11 per cent, next
week's figures from the DCLG will show. The average bill, however, will
increase by less than 4 per cent, say Whitehall insiders.
The Government's preferred measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index,
stands at 2.5 per cent, although the Retail Price Index is 4.1 per cent.
A DCLG spokesman said: "We have made clear many times there are no plans for
a revaluation, and there is no revaluation by stealth. This means no one can
be penalised for improving their home, off-street parking or having a scenic
view.
"The Valuation Office Agency is simply maintaining an accurate council tax
valuation list."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/23/ntax123.xml
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